OFF THE WALL
Chico is the man in L.A.’S scrimmages
We just couldn’t let this stuff go …
Chris Taylor made a mistake in the second inning of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ intrasquad game Saturday. He ran on Chico.
Taylor tagged up from first base on a routine fly ball to left field, where Chico camped under it, writes
of the L.A. Times. Chico, No. 97, fired a strike to second base that easily beat Taylor for a double play. Both teams erupted with cheers and laughter inside an empty Dodger Stadium. The lesson was clear: Don’t run on Chico.
Francisco Herrera, the man known as Chico, is on the Dodgers’ payroll but not as a player. He’s been a clubhouse attendant — a clubbie in baseball speak — since 2008, initially in a part-time role and now in a full-time capacity.
He hasn’t played competitive baseball since his two years playing shortstop at Los Angeles Valley College a decade ago. But the Dodgers have needed a body as a result of a shortage of players and they’ve turned to Herrera. The Hollywood native has been the left fielder for one of the two teams in the Dodgers’ six scrimmages played in training camp, occasionally snatching the spotlight from the major leaguers around him.
“It’s been surreal,” Herrera, 30, said. “The guys are loving it and I’m just going out there and having fun.”
Intrasquad games are central to the three-week training camp major league clubs are holding in preparation for the season.
The Dodgers have blended the work in a relaxed setting. Bench coach Bob Geren, a former bigleague catcher and Clairemont High graduate, occasionally takes playful banter for his calls as the home plate umpire. Members of the coaching staff have sung the national anthem before first pitch to varying success. Trash talk punctuates the eerie silence when the music isn’t echoing.
On Saturday, Mookie Betts cracked a solo home run off Josiah Gray, one of team’s top prospects. Justin Turner added a two-run home run en route to the home team’s 4-3 win.
Chico, however, stole the show to avenge his rough debut.
Herrera caught for pitchers during the league’s shutdown but he didn’t expect to play in scrimmages. Turner informed him he was going to suit up for one of the teams during batting practice before the team’s first scrimmage.
Herrera was shocked. Then he got nervous. Then Taylor tested him early in the game with a line drive that he misplayed. The single turned into a triple.
“That was a very embarrassing moment,” Herrera said. “I had to go run to the ball. It was a long run.”
Herrera has since proved to be a sure-handed left fielder. His skills as a hitter, meanwhile, remain unclear because he hasn’t been given the chance to hit.
“I haven’t swung a bat in a while,” Herrera said. “I’d make myself look like a fool out there.”
Trivia question
Who led each league in WAR (wins above replacement) last baseball season?
Palace is razed
One of Michigan’s most beloved sports and entertainment venues was turned into rubble on Saturday with a series of controlled explosions.
The shell and roof of the Palace of Auburn Hills, which was home to three championship Detroit Pistons teams and three Detroit Shock teams and played host to some of the world’s biggest musical acts during its nearly 30-year run, crumbled to the ground following a series explosive pops. The rest of the arena had already been removed.
The Palace, which opened in 1988, held more than 22,000 people for NBA games and up to 23,000 for concerts and other shows, according to nba.com.
After the Pistons relocated in 2017 to downtown Detroit, the arena about 30 miles northwest of the city continued to host concerts and music events, the last in September 2017 by rocker Bob Seger.
Trivia answer
The Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger (9.1) led the NL, and the Astros’ Alex
(9.1) led the AL.